There’s no need to try
to soften the blow with polite words. Americans
are getting fatter every day. We know this because
we see it in our mirrors, our families, our friends,
and coworkers. Some of us choose to improve our
diets and exercise habits to remedy the situation.
Others are forever searching for a magic potion
that will make the pounds melt away with no effort
whatsoever.
One substance, hoodia, reputed to do just
that has recently reached our shores from the
Namib Desert of southern Africa. The Namib Desert
is identified as the oldest desert on the planet.
Stretching 1,000 miles along the western Africa
coastline, it’s one of the driest, too,
receiving less than .4 inch per year of precipitation.
Given this rugged terrain, it’s amazing
anything, even hoodia, grows there.
Hoodia came to the western world by way
of TV show 60 Minutes in 2003, with Leslie Stahl
reporting of the popularity of the plant for suppressing
appetites in Europe. At that time there were three
products in the US which contained this plant.
Today there are more than 300 products claiming
to contain hoodia on the American market but studies
of a number of individual products show no actual
hoodia at all.
Hoodia hoopla has driven the price of raw
hoodia up from $13/kilogram in 2003 to $250/kilogram
today. It’s efficacy is highly questionable,
so much so that Consumer Reports magazine investigated
it in 2006 and concluded, "This weight loss
drug lacks the clinical evidence for the Consumer
Reports experts to recommend this product."
In spite of the questionable benefits of
hoodia as an appetite suppressant, tribal peoples
indigenous to the Namib Desert have occasionally
used the plant to aid digestion and heal minor
infections.
It’s got an interesting-sounding
name, an exotic past, and plenty of hype but hoodia
is probably no more than a passing fad. Don’t
get caught up in the hoopla. This is probably
a good time to remember that wise adage –
buyer beware.
Reference
Kruger, Anna; An Illustrated Guide to Herbs: Their
Medicine and Magic; A Dragon’s World Book;
Limpsfield and London; 1993
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